Blueprint for the Future

The Bourne Blades

Blueprint for the Future

Blueprint for the Future

Contents

Executive summary

Strategic context – The FA

Bourne Blades Coaching

The Bourne Blades coaching strategy

Organisation

References

Executive Summary

The vision for The Bourne Blades (The Club) is to be recognised within The Bourne, local football and educational communities as a high quality provider of football coaching for children. In so doing we will prioritise and support players and coaches as a cornerstone for the long term success and health of The Club.

The Club has developed from a single team at its inception to what is now a multi- team organisation covering a broad set of age groups from U8s to U18s. In 2011 a clear, integrated coaching plan to effect change and raise standards across our coaching resources was implemented. To continue the progress made thus far within our coaching system and to produce high quality coaches and skilled players, we must confidently lead and engage all members of The Club and embed a coaching system of the highest quality.

Today, coaching provision is reliant predominantly upon volunteer parents and/or externally purchased resource. Much progress has been made on the co-ordination of coaching qualification, planning, improvement and philosophy. Our need to address the major issues in coaching and player development which include fundamental direction around what, how, when and where we teach the game of football remain unchanged from the principles established in the 2011 Strategy.:

·  The Club must boast a team of high quality tutors with the knowledge and experience to make a difference and inspire the next generation of coaches.

·  The best potential and existing coaches need to be identified early and supported through mentoring programmes, drawing from experience within the game and focusing on best practice from other sports.

·  We need to continue creating a culture of learning where coaches strive to improve and are appropriately qualified.

·  A nucleus of coaches must be trained and have appropriate knowledge in how to work with younger players and the provision of sports science, medicine and psychology development must be enhanced to compliment child football development.

·  Furthermore, our programme of support for all coaches must be maintained and we must continue to retain more coaches through the age groups.

The strategy seeks to achieve:

·  A high quality coaching system which will reflect The Club coaching philosophy, child development objectives and a structure for continuous improvement of coaches and coaching provision.

·  A first class coaching workforce which will focus on generating better, more active, appropriately qualified coaches.

·  Enhanced and sustained support for coaches which will address how coaches are supported and given opportunities to progress should they wish to do so.

The strategic plan has been developed and implemented methodically and in consultation with relevant stakeholders such as The Committee, parents, and volunteer coaches. Reviews are required with clear key performance indicators to measure and gauge progress and this review document includes an assessment of progress made in the preceding two years. As The Club focuses on maintaining FA Chartered status, it is essential the emphasis on coaching continues to grow and evolve beyond this plan.

The initial phases of implementation concentrated on establishing foundations for the creation of a coaching academy (The Academy) and which required agreement to and approval of a number of initiatives and protocols by The Committee. The proposals made in 2011 are laid out and explained in detail in the main body of this report in addition to commentary on progress made so far.

Strategic Context – The FA

In its discussion document Developing world-class coaches and players1 the English Football Association (The FA) reported its findings from a top to bottom investigation in to what was required to improve player development from the youngest of ages. The objective was to provide sufficient skilled players at elite level with the ultimate goal of improving the national team performance at major championships. The necessity for change was increased following England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008 and the emergence of much debate surrounding the technical skills of English players.

The report included a foreword from Sir Trevor Brooking, FA Director of Football Development, and one extract is as follows:

Occupying the position as the ‘nation’s favourite game’ places a huge responsibility upon The FA. We need to nurture and develop all its aspects for everyone. In terms of coaching, there is a massive knowledge gap on how best to coach young players. Our new age-appropriate courses are designed to enhance this learning process, but we need a quality full-time coaching workforce and highly skilled, specialist tutors. For the 5-11 age groups, a foundation of basic skills, game understanding and decision-making needs to be coached by specialists. It can then be developed for 12-16 players, who can emerge as confident decision-makers on the pitch.

Focused age appropriate coaching was introduced as a result of the investigation and which became the key foundation of young player development practices. Further reviews by The FA culminated in the publication of an authoritative technical guide for young player development. The Future Game, Grassroots2 and within this document The FA sets out its philosophy for child development in football and specifically states:

Grassroots football is engrained in the social fabric of English culture. Every weekend, players, coaches, referees, parents and volunteers unite to experience the enjoyment of the game.

What is the purpose of grassroots football?

·  An introduction to the enjoyment of playing the game.

·  A setting where all children who want to play have the opportunity to do so.

·  An environment where children can develop skills and learn how to play the game.

·  A challenging but supportive arena where children can learn from their mistakes without undue pressure and anxiety.

·  A culture in which coaches and parents encourage children to get better and improve their skills

·  An opportunity to develop a culture of practice, appropriate challenge, fun and enjoyment.

As junior clubs, in many instances, have taken over the role of informal play the role of the coach is integral in ensuring this positive first experience of the game of football.

Given the coach is ‘integral in ensuring this positive first experience of the game of football’ (quite often children can remember their first coach and the introduction they were given to the game) it is important to understand and recognise those qualities that make effective coaches. The FA summarises the qualities held by effective coaches for age appropriate coaching for 5-16 years as follows2:

Encourage players to try new skills and learn about the game / Enthuse and motivate their players / Encourage, support and inspire players to practice on a regular basis / Offer the players a variety of formats of football ensuring the players are exposed to different sizes of pitch, different numbers if players and different rules / Communicate with players on a level they understand. Use age-appropriate language and instructions.
Are creative, imaginative and forward thinking in their practice design, developing coaching practices which link to the future of the game / Encourage children to be the best that they can be / Prioritise the unique individuality of the child / Understand why children play football / Consider stages of development, how children learn as well as the issues of self-esteem and motivation.
Foster a lifelong love of the game / Put the child and their needs at the centre of all activity / Understand that children are not mini adults and that ‘developing’ football players is a long process

While recognising a range of qualities are required to develop effective coaches, The FA also highlights that one of the key characteristics of good coaching is flexibility. An effective coach will adopt different roles according to the needs of the individual player they are working with. The variety of roles increases in complexity when you add the factor of player maturity to assessing each child, and in this context maturity does not necessarily refer to chronological age. There are a number of elements to understanding maturity differences and these include psychological age, physical age, social age, technical age as well as the more easily recognised chronological age. Every group of players will have a mix of maturity across all elements and coaches need to recognise and understand the implications for their coaching of each aspect.

The FA provides guidance2 on how to develop players across three broad age ranges, 5-11, 11-16 and 17-21. (For the purposes of this document the content is prepared for the youngest two age groups, 5-16). However, it is acknowledged and expected that Bourne Blades’ coaching standards are consistently applied where older age groups are affiliated to the club. Specific age related advice and guidelines should be used as the foundation for designing appropriate coaching structures within junior clubs. The full extent of the guidance is detailed and comprehensive, however the principle elements of recommendation are as described in the below paragraphs.

Age group 5-11

Create a positive learning environment:

·  Apply the principle to coaching sessions and match days

·  Create opportunities for play, fun, participation and interaction with others

·  Appreciate that all young players will learn in different and unique ways

Skill development and decision-making:

·  Encourage skill development and decision-making in realistic ‘game-like’ practices

·  Players should be given lots of opportunities to practice different aspects of the game (shooting, dribbling, tackling, passing, goalkeeping) in context, thus helping players stay ‘on task’ longer

Develop themed practice:

·  Coaches should ‘link’ different parts of a coaching session with the same theme and so providing multi but different opportunities to practice. For example, a passing session should be themed through:

o  Warm up

o  Skill development

o  Game situation

Develop fundamental movement skills:

·  Between 5-11 young players have a ‘window of opportunity’ to develop their agility, balance, co-ordination and speed. Coaches should be creative in building sessions to benefit player development in these areas

Vary interventions:

·  Players don’t enjoy being shouted at, having their mistakes highlighted or having to stop playing the game to listen to the coach talk at length

·  Coaches should use one-to one discussions, question and answer, good example demonstration to convey their points to players

Let the players play:

·  Give all players the opportunity to learn and enjoy the game

·  All children should be given equal playing time on match-day wherever and whenever possible

·  Don’t let the children’s arena become dominated by adults

Appreciate what it is like to be ‘young’:

·  The version of the game seen by young players is vastly different to that seen by adults

·  Fast forwarding coaching to an adult biased understanding of the game risks missing important stages of a child’s development

Finally, with respect to 5-11 age groups, The FA expressly provides three elements that coaches of young players should be cautious of:

1.  Don’t be so intent on winning games that young players miss out on the opportunities to learn and fall in love with the game of football

2.  Don’t apply ‘out-dated’ coaching methods with young players

3.  Don’t impose unrealistic adult expectations on young players

Age group 12-16

As players move to the older age group all of the previous guidance applies but new areas are introduced.

Introduce position specific practices:

·  Players increasingly recognise the significance of practice sessions to their role in the team as they get older

·  Player experience should be balanced in increasing time spent in specific positions during practice and game situations (balance however with experience in a variety of positions should be maintained)

Encourage players to be self-reflective:

·  Players should be encouraged to reflect and challenge themselves on their effectiveness during practice and games

·  Players/coaches should talk openly about objectives for practice and games both as individuals and as a group

One final aspect of player experience that crosses all age groups is that around the topic of winning and development. The majority of adults who coach young players in the grassroots game do so enthusiastically, appropriately and with the enjoyment and development of their players at the forefront of their minds. Unfortunately, it still remains that this is not always the case.

Team ‘talks’, de-briefs and touchline shouting which border on lecturing and in the worst cases finger pointing and ranting – provide proof that there are still some coaches that feel the need to inject a competitive edge into the children who are playing the game. ‘Character building’ and ‘toughening up’ are often used as justification for demanding a ‘winning mentality’ – even with those in the very youngest of age groups. The FA direction is clear that all junior clubs should actively discourage this type of behaviour and should encourage concepts that promote other forms of progress than simply winning a match, such as the joy of playing football and improving individual ability across a range of aspects.

To emphasise why this is so important at an early age further work has been completed3 by The FA to identify the reasons why children play football. 40 groups of children between 5-11 were asked to express why they played the game and the top 6 responses were:

1.  Trying my hardest is more important than winning

2.  I love playing football because it’s fun

3.  It’s a really good game and I love it!

4.  It helps keep me fit and healthy

5.  I like meeting new friends through football

6.  I like playing with my friends

The bottom 4 responses were:

1.  It’s important to me I win the league

2.  I like to show off my skills

3.  Winning is more important to me than trying my hardest

4.  It’s important to me I win trophies and medals

To create coaching sessions and formats of football which are appropriate and engaging for young players, it is important for coaches to develop an understanding of the reasons why children play the game. In the worst case scenario, if adult motivation is the driver and is dramatically different to that of the children, some children may leave the game.